Canada’s shameful record on Palestine

Hanna Kawas, Chairperson of the Canada Palestine Association offers an analysis of Canada’s record in the United Nations General Assembly on votes in 2013 related Palestine/Israel.

Canada’s Record at the UN General Assembly 2013:
17 Votes Against the Palestinian and Arab Peoples, and In Support of Israel Aggression and Apartheid

Canada’s voting pattern at the United Nations shows that the current government blindly and unconditionally supports Israel’s position, even when it is in contradiction with officially stated Canadian policies. The most recent UN General Assembly voting record of Canadian representatives demonstrated the shameful and biased positions of the Canadian Government that fly in the face of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Canada voted against the vast majority of the resolutions relating to Palestine/Israel (the one exception we could find was an abstention on humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees). Israel’s fan club in the UN, according to Prof. Richard Falk, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, includes “its three staunchest supporters, each once a British colony: the United States, Canada, Australia, with the addition of such international heavyweight states as Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands.” (The combined population of these three “heavyweight states” amounts to less than the population of the Palestinian city of Hebron or the Canadian city of Burnaby).

Here are just a few highlights of Canada’s position:

Canada voted against the Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (Not really surprising, given Canada’s own long history of trampling on the rights of aboriginal people).

Canada voted against “2014: International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” (Don’t wait for any official celebrations in Ottawa to mark this!)

Canada voted against “the right of all persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities to return to their homes or former places of residence in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967”. (And yet Canada hypocritically insists it “does not recognize permanent Israeli control” over occupied territories.)

Here is the record – Canada has voted against all significant UN resolutions dealing with Palestinian human and national rights. Grassroots organizations and all people of conscience must challenge this outrage being implemented in our names, so that future generations will not be burdened with the shame and consequences of such reckless and criminal policies.

1. The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (A/C.3/68/L.68): 178 in favour to 7 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 4 abstentions (Cameroon, Paraguay, Tonga, Vanuatu).

2. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People “2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” (A/68/L.12) : 110 in favour to 7 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 56 abstentions.

3. Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat (A/68/L.13): 108 in favour to 7 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 59 abstentions

4. Special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat (A/68/L.14): 163 in favour to 7 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 7 abstentions (Cameroon, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga).

6. Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities (A/C.4/68/L.13) by a recorded vote of 170 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Palau, Marshall Islands, United States), with 6 abstentions (Cameroon, Kiribati, Panama, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu).

7. Operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (A/C.4/68/L.14): 170 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 6 abstentions (Cameroon, Kiribati, Malawi, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu).

8. Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues (A/C.4/68/L.15) was adopted by a recorded vote of 172 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 5 abstentions (Cameroon, Kiribati, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu).

9. The work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (A/C.4/68/L.16): 95 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, United States), with 75 abstentions.

10. The applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the other occupied Arab territories (A/C.4/68/L.17): 169 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 7 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu).

11. Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan (A/C.4/68.L.18), 167 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 9 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Honduras, Kiribati, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu).

12. Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (A/C.4/68/L.19): 165 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, United States), with 8 abstentions (Cameroon, Honduras, Kiribati, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Vanuatu)

13. Peaceful settlement of the Question of Palestine (A/68/L.15): 165 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Israel, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), with 6 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Tonga).

17. Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources (A/68/446): 162 to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Micronesia (Federated States of), Palau, United States of America) with 9 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, Jamaica, Malawi, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Tonga.)

18. Risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East (A/68/414): 169 in favour to 5 against (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Palau, United States), with 6 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, India, Panama).
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Statistics for countries with the most number of votes at the 2013 UN General Assembly (68th session) cast against the Palestinian and Arab peoples’ human rights and national aspirations:

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The Palestine Solidarity Network is a non-profit, grassroots collective aimed at advocating for and upholding the human rights of Palestinians in the face of ongoing oppression, occupation, racism, and discrimination, both in occupied Palestine and in the diaspora.